Water saving flush system

ABSTRACT

In an automatic shut off system for a water closet, a weight is added to the flapper valve and the chain is lengthened a precise amount to shorten the flush cycle and thereby reduces the amount of water used. This system conserves water by reducing the automatic flush system to release only one gallon of water for a short flush, while still permitting a full three gallon flush by merely holding the handle in the “on” position.

BACKGROUND

[0001] 1. Field

[0002] The present invention relates to flapper valves used in toiletwater closets and more particularly to modification in such valves thatare designed to facilitate the saving of water by proper weighing of theflapper valve.

[0003] 2. Prior Art

[0004] A number of prior art inventions have been made to save waterduring the flush cycle. These inventions are described briefly below:

[0005] U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,283 illustrates a water conservation flushingapparatus where the flapper valve closed as soon as the handle isreleased. The handle must be held down for any flow. This system failsto have any automatic shut off for a reduced flow cycle.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No, 4,091,474 illustrates a short flow cycle systemwhere a float height in the tank determines when the cycle is over byclosing the flapper valve when the water drops below the float level.However, it fails to provide this function with a simple mechanism. Itrequires a separate float, weight and connection means.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,215 illustrates a flush system in which thereis a rigid link from the handle which pushes the flapper valve down aslong as the handle is held in a specific position. It fails to have anautomatically shut off after a short flow cycle. It is completely manualin operation.

[0008] U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,995 illustrates a separate weighted floatthat can be set to close the flapper valve after a desired amount offlow has occurred. However, this is not a simple system. It requires aseparate float, weight and connecting means.

[0009] U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,510 illustrates a system in which a weight isplaced in the flapper valve. The toilet flushing handle is held down forthe amount of water flow needed for a flush. The flow stopped as soon asthe handle is released. This system cannot provide an automatically shutoff for a reduced flush. It is entirely manual.

[0010] U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,554 illustrates a water saving device thatuses a separate float attached to the flapper valve whereby the flappervalve is closed when the water flows below the float level. However, itfails to show a simple reliable and low cost system where a flappervalve includes a weight that automatically determines the amount ofwater flow in a flush. The device described in this patent requires aseparate float and extension piece for adjusting the height of the floatin the tank.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0011]FIG. 1 is a side cross sectional view of a prior art toilet watercloset showing the flapper valve in the closed position.

[0012]FIG. 2 is a side cross sectional view of a prior art water closetshowing the flapper valve in the open position.

[0013]FIG. 3 is a side cross sectional view of the present inventionshowing the flapper valve in the open position.

[0014]FIG. 4A is a plan view of a cap used to convert a conventionalvalve into one which incorporated the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 4B is a side elevation view of a conventional flapper 11,along with a weight and the cap of FIG. 4A which are all that arenecessary to convert the conventional valve into one which incorporatesthe present invention.

SUMMARY

[0016] It is an object of the present invention to provide a toiletwater closet with the capability of an automatic short flush cycle.

[0017] It is an object of the present invention to easily modifyexisting toilets to provide an automatic short flush cycle.

[0018] It is an object of the present invention to provide toilets withan automatic short flush cycle at low cost.

[0019] It is an object of the present invention to provide toilets withan automatic short flush cycle and a manually controlled long flushcycle.

[0020] The present invention illustrates a system where a weight isadded to the flapper valve and the chain to the flapper valve islengthened to shorten the flush cycle and thereby reduces the amount ofwater used. This system conserves water by automatically reducing theflush to one gallon of water for a short flush, and it permits theoperator to obtain a full three gallon flush by merely holding thehandle in the “on” position.

[0021] A weight added to the flapper valve and a lengthening of thechain to the flapper valve is all that is needed as change to existingequipment to achieve an automatic short flush time. An automatic shortflush time provides an important economic advantage because most priorart system require much more complicated changes to obtain a short flushcycle. This short flush cycle is made possible by increasing the lengthof chain used to lift the flapper valve to a selected angle above thedrain port. Typically the chain to the valve is lengthened by half aninch. This increase in chain length prevents the valve from being liftedto the fall vertical position and allows the valve to close after only agallon has flowed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022]FIG. 1 is a side cross sectional view of a prior art toilet watercloset showing the flapper valve in the closed position. A commonlyavailable flush system in a toilet water closet 1, comprises a watercloset 2, a rinse pipe 3, a flapper valve 4, an arm 4A connecting theflapper valve to rinse pipe 3, a pivot 4B on the rinse pipe supportingthe flapper valve arm, and a drain port 4C for the flapper valve.

[0023] The water closet which has an open top 1B and a bottom IC alsoincludes walls, such as wall 1A that enclose a volume of water 10. Thedrain port 4C is located in the bottom of water closet 1C while theflapper valve 4, which typically consists of a flap of material islocated at the bottom inside the water closet directly above the drainport.

[0024] In a first closed position, the flapper valve 4 rests on thedrain port and is in part is held in this position by the water 10 aboveit which fills the water closet. The flapper valve arm 4A, which islocated at a first end of the flapper valve, connects the flapper valveto the rinse pipe 3 by way of a pivot 4B. The rinse pipe is mounted tothe bottom of the water closet which therefore, connects the flappervalve to the water closet by way of the rinse pipe. The flapper valve isfree to open and close by rotating about the pivot 4B. In the operationof this valve, a handle 7, which is connected to a control arm 6, isused to lift the flapper valve from the first closed position by way ofa chain 5 that is connected between the control arm 6 and the flappervalve to a second open position which places the flapper valve at anangle X with respect to the horizontal. This angle X which can be seenin FIG. 2 typically ranges from 70 to 85°.

[0025]FIG. 2 shows the position of the control arm 6 to be within thewater closet above the flapper valve 4. When the handle 7 is depressed,the control arm 6 rotates about a pivot 7A. Depressing the handle, whichis attached to the left end of the control arm, causes the right end ofthe control arm to be raised upward. This lifts the chain 5 which isconnected at one end to the right end of the control arm and which hasits opposite end connected to the flapper valve at point 4D. The chaintypically contains some slack referred to by drawing numeral 5B. Theupward movement of the control arm first takes up the slack and thenmoves the flapper valve up from its position over the drain port,allowing the water in the closet to flow down through the drain portinto the toilet. The direction of the water flow into the drain port 4Cis shown by directional arrow 10A.

[0026] On the underside of the flapper valve is a projection that is inthe form of a truncated cone 4E which is attached to the flapper valveat the base of this cone. The cone, which is hollow and provide a meansof flotation for the flapper valve, projects downwardly into the drainport 4C, when the valve is closed. As the flapper valve is lifted, airbubbles 9 are released through a hole 4F at the bottom of the cone 4E.While these bubbles are being released, some water enters the cone. Thiswater adds weight to the flapper valve, but the flapper valve has upwardmomentum and once it reaches its upright position it remains in theupright position for a short period at time, typically 8 seconds untilthe water closet is almost empty. The flapper valve remains in itsupright position for this period even after the handle is releasedbecause the flapper valve is supported by the arm 4A which rest on thepivot 4B. In the upward position, the valve's center of gravity is closeto being directly above pivot point 4B and in this position, the valve'sown weight produces less closing torque than when the valve is in a morehorizontal position. The closing torque of the valve is also partiallycounteracted by the buoyancy of the cone, which also aids in keeping theflapper valve in its upright position. As water flows in the directionshown by 10A into the port 4C, it causes the water level in the tank todrop, eventually causing the water level to fall below the level of theflapper valve. At this point, the flotation support provided by thewater no longer exist for the flapper valve and the valve's own weightplus the added weight due to the water that has been taken into the conecauses the valve to fall to its previous first or closed position on thedrain port. The water rushing past the valve in the direction 10A alsotends to drive the flapper valve into this closed position. Whateverwater was taken in by the cone is drained from the cone in its closedposition, making it ready for the next flush cycle. This completes thedescription of the flush cycle for prior art toilets.

[0027] The major problem with prior art flush systems is that once thehandle has been pressed down and released, the cycle uses virtually allthe water in the water closet which usually amounts to three gallons.Often, much less water is required. However, a short flush cycle whichuses less water cannot be obtained from prior art water closets of thetype shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0028] The present invention is shown in FIG. 3. It appears to bevirtually the same as the prior art water closet shown in FIGS. 1 and 2,however, there are two small but very significant differences. The chain5 has been replaced by a lengthened chain 5A and the flapper valve nowincludes on its upper side a weight 8. In the operation of this system,when the handle is pulled down, its downward movement is limited by astop usually built into pivot 7A. Because the upward movement of theright end of the control arm and the upward movement of the chain aresimilarly limited, the opening of the flapper valve is limited. Thelengthen of chain 5A does not allow pulling the flapper valve into thefull upright position, but holds it at an angle of approximately 45degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. In this position, theflapper valve does not receive as much support from the pivots 4B asdoes the prior art system where the flapper valve is in the full uprightposition. The torque required to close the valve is less because of thegreater distance of the center of gravity of the valve from the pivotpoint 4B and the greater weight provided by weight 8. The weight 8 ischosen to make the flapper have a density which gives it a slightlynegative buoyancy so that the valve, once released, slowly descendstowards the port 4C. As it moves in this direction, the flow of thewater 10A tends to pull the valve into the closed position.

[0029] This process takes nominally 5 seconds in which timeapproximately one gallon is allowed to flow out through the port 4C toproduce the desired short flush cycle. One major difference between thepresent invention and the prior art is the shut off for the short flushcycle is automatic and it is accomplished reliably and at low cost. Whenthe handle 7 is pulled in a downward direction and let go, the shortcycle with automatically take place. If a longer flush cycle is desired,all that is required is for the flush handle 7 to held down by theoperator for as long a flush cycle as is desired.

[0030] One of the primary advantages of the present invention is theease with which an in place conventional system may be converted to asystem incorporating the present invention. This is shown in FIGS. 4Aand 4B.

[0031]FIG. 4A is a plan view of a cap 12. FIG. 4B is a side elevationview of a conventional flapper valve 10, along with a weight 11 and acap 12. The weight and cap are the only components that are needed toconvert the conventional valve to one that provide the water savingcapability of the present invention. In the conversion process, theweight is placed on top of the conventional valve and the cap is placedover the weight to hold it in place. The cap is secured in place bywater proof glue or can be held by a number of mechanical means. Thoseskilled in the art can devise many equivalent methods of securing theweight to the valve including gluing the weight directly, providing aslot in the valve into which the weight may be inserted, screwing thecap onto the valve and providing fingers in the cap which grip thevalve. All of these equivalents are considered to fall within the spiritand scope of the present invention.

[0032] A significant difference between the present invention and theprior art is the weight added to the flapper valve is not intended toprevent the valve from lifting, except during the time the handle 7 isheld down. The weight 4 is chosen to allow the valve to float, butprevents it from reaching it in full upright position. It should benoted that there are several embodiments that fall within the spirit andscope of the present invention. In one embodiment, a completely newvalve, which has been successfully fabricated, the weight 11 isincorporated during the fabrication process, making it possible tosimply replace the flapper valve to gain the automatic short flush orthe manually controlled longer flush.

[0033] In a second embodiment, a different value of weight isincorporated to provide a different amount of water release for theautomatic short flush. The different weight may, in a third embodiment,be adjusted in the field by adding weight at the site. This can beaccomplished in several ways, one of which is using the configurationshown in FIG. 4B when the cap 12 is made removable by, for example,having it contain threads 14 which are used to engage mating threads 15on the valve as shown in FIG. 4B. An alternate is to have the cap snaponto the valve.

[0034] A fourth embodiment provides the desired added weight by simplythickening the walls of the valve, eliminating the need for a weight. Inthis latter system, the only apparent difference with prior artinstallation is the lengthening of the chain or other link between thecontrol arm 6 and the valve. Finally, in a fifth embodiment, the chainlength by itself is used to adjust the short cycle flush time. The slackin the chain determines the angle to which the valve is raised, and thisdetermines the torque the valve exerts to return to its first closedposition. Different amounts of slack provide different amounts of flush.Of course, using both weight and chain length provide the most positiveand sure way to obtain a desired short flush cycle.

Having described my invention, I claim:
 1. A flapper valve system toadjust the amount of water released in a flush cycle in a toilet whichincludes a water closet that includes walls enclosing a volume of waterand has a top and a bottom, a drain port in the bottom of the watercloset to release water from the water closet, a flapper valveconsisting fundamentally of a flap of material that has a first and asecond end and is pivotly connected at its first end to the watercloset, the second end of said flapper valve which, in a first closedposition, is laid flat and generally horizontally over and against thedrain port and then, in a second open position, is raised to an anglethat generally ranges between 70 and 85 degrees from the horizontal toprovide a downward force on the flapper valve caused by its weight whichtends to return the flapper valve to its first closed position, saidsecond open position being above and away from said drain port to allowthe water in said drain port to exit said water closet, said flappervalve controlling the flow of water from the water closet through thedrain port, and said system further including a control arm means with alimited range of upward movement, a linkage attached between the controlarm means and the flapper valve to lift the flapper valve to its secondposition in response to the limited movement of said control arm whichdraws said linkage taught to release water from the water closet throughthe drain port, said flapper valve system further including means forflotation, said means for flotation being attached to and aiding saidvalve in remaining in it's second position until the water in said watercloset has been drained away from said flapper valve through said drainport, at which time the weight of said flapper valve causes it to dropto its first position to cover and close said drain port, allowing thewater closet to be refilled for the next flush cycle, said flapper valvesystem further comprising means for introducing slack in said linkage toprevent the raising of said valve to its full upward second position tocause said valve to drop to its first position prior to the completedraining of the water closet to provide the release of a selected volumeof water that is less than the full volume of the water closet.
 2. Aflapper valve system to adjust the amount of water released in a flushcycle in a toilet which includes a water closet that includes wallsenclosing a volume of water and has a top and a bottom, a drain port inthe bottom of the water closet to release water from the water closet, aflapper valve consisting fundamentally of a flap of material that has afirst and a second end and is pivotly connected at its first end to thewater closet, the second end of said flapper valve which, in a firstclosed position, is laid flat and generally horizontally over andagainst the drain port and then, in a second open position, is raised toan angle that generally ranges between 70 and 85 degrees from thehorizontal to provide a downward force on the flapper valve caused byits weight which tends to return the flapper valve to its first closedposition, said second open position being above and away from said drainport to allow the water in said drain port to exit said water closet,said flapper valve controlling the flow of water from the water closetthrough the drain port, and said system further including a control armmeans with a limited range of upward movement, a linkage attachedbetween the control arm means and the flapper valve to lift the flappervalve to its second position in response to the limited movement of saidcontrol arm which draws said linkage taught to release water from thewater closet through the drain port, said flapper valve system furtherincluding means for flotation, said means for flotation being attachedto and aiding said valve in remaining in it's second position until thewater in said water closet has been drained away from said flapper valvethrough said drain port, at which time the weight of said flapper valvecauses it to drop to its first position to cover and close said drainport, allowing the water closet to be refilled for the next flush cycle,said flapper valve system further comprising a weight means added tosaid valve to cause said valve to drop to its first position prior tothe complete draining of the water closet to release a selected volumeof water that is less than the full volume of the water closet.
 3. Aflapper valve system to adjust the amount of water released in a flushcycle in a toilet which includes a water closet that includes wallsenclosing a volume of water and has a top and a bottom, a drain port inthe bottom of the water closet to release water from the water closet, aflapper valve consisting fundamentally of a flap of material that has afirst and a second end and is pivotly connected at its first end to thewater closet, the second end of said flapper valve which, in a firstclosed position, is laid flat and generally horizontally over andagainst the drain port and then, in a second open position, is raised toan angle that generally ranges between 70 and 85 degrees from thehorizontal to provide a downward force on the flapper valve caused byits weight which tends to return the flapper valve to its first closedposition, said second open position being above and away from said drainport to allow the water in said drain port to exit said water closet,said flapper valve controlling the flow of water from the water closetthrough the drain port, and said system further including a control armmeans with a limited range of upward movement, a linkage attachedbetween the control arm means and the flapper valve to lift the flappervalve to its second position in response to the limited movement of saidcontrol arm which draws said linkage taught to release water from thewater closet through the drain port, said flapper valve system furtherincluding means for flotation, said means for flotation being attachedto and aiding said valve in remaining in it's second position until thewater in said water closet has been drained away from said flapper valvethrough said drain port, at which time the weight of said flapper valvecauses it to drop to its first position to cover and close said drainport, allowing the water closet to be refilled for the next flush cycle,said flapper valve system further comprising means for introducing slackin said linkage to prevent the raising of said valve to its full upwardsecond position, to aid in causing said valve to drop to its firstposition prior to the complete draining of the water closet and saidflapper valve system further comprising a weight means added to saidvalve to aid in causing said valve to drop to its first position priorto the complete drawing of the water closet to release a selected volumeof water that is less than the ful volume of said water closet, saidweight means and said means for introducing slack combining to determinea selected amount of water to be released.
 4. A flapper valve system asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said means for introducing slack furtherincludes means for adjusting the amount of slack to determine a selectedvolume of water to be released from the water closet by the flappervalve system.
 5. A flapper valve system as claimed in claim 2 whereinsaid weight means includes means for adjusting the valve of the weightmeans to determine a selected volume of water to be released from thewater closet by the flapper valve system.
 6. A flapper valve system asclaimed in claim 2 wherein said weight means comprises a discrete weightattached to said valve.
 7. A valve system as claimed in claim 3 whereinsaid valve includes a removable cap and said weight is attached to saidvalve by capturing it between said cap and said valve.
 8. A valve systemas claimed n claim 7 wherein said cap includes a first set of threadsand said valve includes a second set of threads which mate with saidfirst set of threads to permit said cap to the detachably secured tosaid valve.
 9. A valve system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said weightmeans is distributed weight obtained by thickening the walls of saidvalve over the thickness needed to allow said valve to rise to its fullopen second position.